Polish contractors do not slow down with the next phases of recently won projects

The international Rail Baltica line (Warszawa – Białystok) will provide more efficient rail transport. Two new bridges over Bug river (each bridge with one rail track) will significantly facilitate the passage of trains, which until now has been limited to only one track. The first arch bridge is under construction. Upon completion, it will take over the train traffic following the current old truss bridge. At the next stage the old bridge will be demolished and the new one will be erected. Each of the new bridges will have five impressive 60-meter spans with 12 m height. 300-meter long bridges will enable faster travel of passenger trains with speed up to 160 km / h (currently 120 km / h). Also heavier cargo trains with higher axle weight will be able to cross the bridges.

Cost-effective steel structure components of the bridge were produced on time as Toijala mill delivered 210 tons of VU sections in requested lengths. Roll forming manufacturing method does not limit the length of profiles. Ready-made deck structure met all the demands of Investor due to its high bending and torsion resistance and proper long-lasting fatigue resistance. Mr. Damian Sojka, manager of Intercor production unit confirms that horizontal and vertical straightness of the elements (2mm/m) made the whole process of production easy and dimension accuracy helped a lot during welding. Bug river bridge is already the third bridge where Intercor cooperated with SSAB. SSAB has already delivered material for Gdańsk Ołowianka footbridge and Warsaw Łazienkowski bridge. VU sections were integral part of structures in all these projects.

Figure 1. First bridge over Bug river.

The 600m road bridge will connect Slovakian town of Komarno and the Hungarian town of Komarom.

A cross-border bridge connecting these two countries over the Danube River – through the towns of Komárno and Komárom – will fill the gap and insufficient capacity. There is currently only one road bridge, Elisabeth Bridge, connecting the two cities. When the new 600-metre bridge across the Danube is completed, heavy trucks will be able to cross it, meaning that they will no longer have to pass through the centers of the two towns. The construction work on the bridge, which is being co-funded by EU funds, is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

In 1892 Komárom and the then town of Újszőny were connected by an iron bridge and in 1896 the two towns were united under the name Komárom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But after the empire was split, the towns developed separately in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

A new bridge construction has already started. The bridge is designed as a steel girder suspended, five-pole, single-storey with the upper deck. Highlight of the bridge supporting structure in addition to the horizontal support girder is 96 m high sloped pylon of an inverted letter “Y” shape erected above pillar no. III. A cone-organized system of ropes in two levels optimizes the distribution of internal forces in the two largest fields. Rectangular cross-sections on the outside of the pylon are rounded. Technological stairs are established inside the pylon in both legs there. They also allow access to a small viewing platform.

Orthotropic decks are being produced parallel in two steel centers – Polish Banimex and Slovac Sam ShipBuilding and Construction. In total Toijala produced over 920 tons of S355J2C+N profiles in more than 20 lengths and two different wall thicknesses. SSAB Oborniki unit in Poland produced S460ML VU sections (ca. 30tons) for the most demanding bridge sections. Using trapezoidal sections in superstructure bridge design, especially in these orthotropic decks, improved overall bridge economy as it optimized the whole bridge structure. Good accuracy in cross-sectional dimensions and easy surface treatment helped our customers speed up production process.

Figure2. Trapezoidal sections.

As Mr. Csikos Gabor – the Technical Director of Banimex informs, the quality of delivered sections met the customer’s expectations and they hope for future cooperation. SSAB has already received inquiry for open profiles – the next phase of the project. Profiles will be used for bridge guardrails.

Banimex confirms that there are new bridge projects on design level and again VU sections are specified there. Execution of one bridge per year is forecasted by Hungarian investor - NIF Nemzeti Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő .

Figure 3. Ready components ready for transport from Banimex production site to the building site in Slovakia. In the picture Aleksandra Burska, Sales Manager and Hannu Koukkari, Product Group Manager from SSAB.